In the United States (US), there are almost 5 million alcohol-related visits to Emergency Departments (EDs) per year (1). Many of these visits involve patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) who have, or are at risk for, thiamine deficiency. These individuals should receive thiamine supplementation (2-4). However, thiamine deficiency is difficult to identify because initial symptoms are often nonspecific, e.g., headaches, fatigue, irritability, and abdominal discomfort (5,6). The lack of thiamine supplementation in patients with thiamine deficiency can contribute to heart failure and sudden death, Wernicke's encepha-lopathy, and irreversible brain damage. The latter includes Korsakoff s psychosis, which is characterized by anterograde amnesia, an inability to remember recent events, and confabulation (5,6). Because Wernicke's encephalopathy and Korsakoff s psychosis have a shared etiology and often co-occur, they are often referred to as Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome (WKS).
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